Japan's IS12T Windows Phone mugs for the camera at CES '12

If there was one phone that really piqued the interest of our Western readers, it would be the Toshiba-Fujitsu IS12T. Coming in bright pink, yellow and blue, the phone is completely unique mostly due to its specs: 32GB of storage, 13MP camera, water/dust proof and a 4" screen.

So we were quite excited to see a few of them on display here at CES as it was our first and perhaps only time to be able to take it for a spin. The phone is certainly interesting but those tiny front buttons are a little difficult at times to just "look and feel", though we suppose they may be better than all-capacitive for some of you. It is very plastic-y and feels quite nice in the hand, though the screen itself is a bit under whelming (it is similar to the HTC Arrive's in terms of contrast).

Definitely a great phone for those in Japan but we'll still take a Nokia any day if given the choice.

Exclusive Nokia phones coming to each U.S. carrier?

Chris Weber, Nokia's president of North America, told FierceWireless in an interview that they are working to gain ground in the U.S. market by becoming the most carrier-friendly manufacturer in town. With this in mind, he said that they are trying to bring exclusive Windows Phone devices, content and experiences to each carrier.

"The most important thing we can do in the U.S. market is bring exclusive devices and opportunities to each of the carriers," he said. "Doing that exclusivity and giving them something unique allows us to get great carrier support."

T-Mobile is set to get the Lumia 710 and the stunning Lumia 900 is en route to AT&T under the moniker Ace. Nokia is working with T-Mobile specifically to lure in first time smartphone buyers, while the main focus with AT&T is to get current users on other platforms to make the move over. However, when asked about Verizon, who currently only carries the Gen-1 HTC Trophy, Weber was rather mum, stating only that "they're a very important partner for [Nokia]." He made no mention of Sprint, who seems to have nearly abandoned Windows Phone all together after a half-hearted affair with the wonderful HTC Arrive.

Perhaps this is just reading too much into the words of an exec, mixed some a healthy pinch of wishful thinking. Or perhaps it is a sign of greatness on the horizon. Either way, Weber's words show that Nokia knows where the key to success lies:

"At the end of the day, if we have great consumer satisfaction, they recommend it to friends, they love those devices, every other business metric takes care of itself."

Exclusive: The complete Windows Phone emoji list

Back in November, Windows Phone team blogger Michael Stroh teased users with some cheatsheets to many of the emoticons or emoji (Japanese) built right into the Windows Phone platform. He didn't share them all, though. Not content with waiting around for more blog posts, we decided to dig through the operating system, not stopping until we found the rare and beautiful emoji. And found them we did.

Nokia predicted to ship 37 million Windows Phones in 2012

Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm, has predicted that Nokia will be shipping 37 million Windows Phones in 2012. Not only that, but they expect the number to almost double in 2013 to 64 million. This is depending on how aggressive Microsoft, Nokia and AT&T market the Lumia 900. If Europe is anything to go by, we're sure Nokia will be pushing extremely hard with the software giant and U.S. carrier close behind. With a rumoured $200 million budget available between them, we should look forward to some interesting promotions and events being set up.

As Steve Ballmer mentioned at CES, they've got a long way to go, but the road is looking positive should a strong push be effective.

Square Off version 1.5 adds free ringtones, paid version goes on sale

Square Off is a fine twin-stick shooter from Australian indie developer Gnomic Studios. Just see our review if you don’t believe me (then again, I wrote that, too). Since their game’s release, Gnomic has shown the game a lot of support with multiple updates and the release of a free, ad-supported version. In fact, just recently they published a new update for paid and free versions alike.

Square Off version 1.5 release notes:

Choose any colour for your Square Avenger!

Downloadable ring-tones and wallpapers (the free version has 1 of each, the paid version has 4 ring-tones and 3 wallpapers)

Option to disable in-game vibration

Messages from the Developers

Stability and bug fixes

What’s more, the paid version is on sale for only $1 until the end of January. A perfect time to snag it and get those extra ringtones! Gnomic was also kind enough to provide a Square Off lockscreen wallpaper for our readers, which you can see to the right.

Square Off (paid) is on sale for $1 for a limited time only. Get it here on the Marketplace. The ad-supported FREE version can be found here.

2012 CES: Day Two Recap

With day one of CES 2012 packing the Windows Phone punch that we were all hoping for, with the Lumia 900 being announced, AT&T backing the platform, the HTC Titan II surprising technology minds, as well as Steve Ballmer skating around the convention to get to multiple sessions. It was an eventful day to say the least. Day two, on the other hand, was relatively laid back with WPCentral setting up some insightful interviews with the big names behind Nokia and Microsoft. We also took a look at some new Mango handsets that weren't seeing much spotlight coverage.

Interview with Belfiore and Shields: We took Microsoft's Joe Belfiore and Nokia's Kevin Shields hostage for half an hour while we interrogated them about the platform and what plans the two companies have for 2012. Check out the interview for some insightful and enlightening responses.

Lumia 710 & 800 heading to Canada: Stephen Elop announced in an interview with Nokia Conversations that the 710 and 800 will be coming to his homeland, Canada. We've received numerous complaints from Canadians who feel left out when it comes to Windows Phones, so this is great news for those who wish to get their hands on the latest family from Nokia.

Windows Phone smoking the competition: Microsoft's Ben Rudolph (Ben the PC Guy) has been hoarding himself around CES looking for prey to humiliate. Should you have an iPhone, Android handset, or other competitor handset, you could be in with the chance of pocketing $100 by attempting to best Windows Phone in a challenge. With results so far, Windows Phone is holding its head high.

Acer Allegro: We take a look at the Acer Allegro (finally). The low-spec'd handset is destined for new smartphone owners and the developing markets, but don't let that fool you. Acer's Windows Phone is actually not a bad device overall, and it's good to have the choice available.

ZTE Tania: If you thought 8GB and 16GB wasn't enough for your music collection and apps, try 4GB for size. The Tania from ZTE is a low budget handset and the specs reflect this, but the Tania really took us by surprise by how good the handset looks/feels. If only ZTE would up the specifications on another model and ship to Europe and the U.S.... we can only dream.

Be sure to check out our first day recap, should you have been asleep throughout the day and missed the big announcements.

Orange FR offering 5 free apps with Lumia 800 purchase

The French mobile network Orange is offering to purchase five apps from the Marketplace for new Nokia Lumia 800 buyers. When downloading the first five apps, instead of using an attached credit card, the Windows Phone owner can choose "Orange bill" as the payment option and the carrier will not charge these five apps to the next bill. The beauty of this offer is Orange will allow any app that costs up to €14.99, so in theory you could get €75 worth of apps for free. Not bad!

The offer is for new purchasers of the Lumia 800 (available in black and magenta), and will be running from January 12 to February 8, 2012.

Windows Phone Review: T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 710

Nokia has had a good amount of success with the European launch of the Nokia Lumia 800 and has hopes that success continues as the company begins its push into the North American market. The first Nokia Windows Phone for the U.S. Market is the Nokia Lumia 710, that is now available over at T-Mobile.

The Lumia 710 is a compact, entry level Windows Phone that sports a 3.7" screen that is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass. The latest Windows Phone feels solidly built and comfortable in the hand.

As with other second generation Windows Phones, the Lumia 710 is designed more for a specific audience and may not appeal to everyone. Some will find the 8gb of storage limiting and the missing front-facing camera disappointing. It may not suit your fancy but the Nokia Lumia 710 is a very good Windows Phone and a nice entry level model. It represents Nokia very well as their first U.S. Windows Phone.

Xbox Live: Watch out.There's a Bug Village on the Marketplace

Bug Village – the first freemium Xbox Live game (smartphone or otherwise) – is now available. What’s a freemium game? That means everyone gets the full game for free. But the developers at Glu Mobile also offer some premium content (PDLC) for dedicated players to buy. The PDLC here (Coins) allows you to build special structures and/or speed up the time it takes your bug minions to complete tasks. It’s completely optional and you can earn the full 200 GamerScore without spending a dime, so no worries!

Bug Village is also the first city-building game on Windows Phone. As mentioned, you’ll be recruiting an army of hard-working insects and expanding your village as you see fit. With detailed 3D graphics and the aforementioned Achievements, Bug Village is a game every Windows Phone owner should try. See our developer interview for more details.

Xbox Live Deal of the Week - Implode! is now 33 percent off

Ready for a deal? Implode! - the Xbox Live Deal of the Week, has officially gone on sale for $1.99. Not a bad price for such a lengthy game!

Implode! takes place in a classroom setting with each puzzle drawn on a chalkboard. The goal: blowing up buildings as efficiently as possible. Over the course of 150 levels, you’ll get to use a variety of different explosives and face many challenging conditions such as wind, low gravity, and neighboring buildings that mustn’t be harmed. I hate those buildings! Don't they know you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette? Anyway, as our review indicates, Implode!’s puzzles get quite tough sometimes, but it remains fun throughout.

Implode! is on sale for $1.99 (down from $2.99) for one week only. Pick it up here in the Marketplace and let the explosions commence.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the focus was on Nokia, the Lumia 900, re-entering the US market and anything else would could think to ask. Having said that, sorry folks, no new feature announcements were revealed about the Windows Phone OS as both gentlemen outsmarted our attempts. (We're betting on Mobile World Congress next month for more info on "Tango").

The interview, all 25 minutes of it, can be seen above and we think it is quite interesting, especially as we ask about what are Microsoft's and Nokia's biggest challenges in the US, how did the Lumia 900 come to be (including the design process), what should we expect from the LTE experience and more. Clearly Microsoft is expecting Windows 8 to add another "jolt" to Windows Phone in 2012 and we couldn't agree more.

In addition, we had some more hands-on time with the Lumia 900 and folks, we're really excited about this beauty as it is quite the Windows Phone. More on that later this week in our podcast.

A big thanks to Microsoft and Nokia for extending the opportunity for this interview and iMore's Rene Ritchie for assistance.

Edit: The last few minutes got cut off, so we have a new version coming up in a little bit.

Though entry-level, the ZTE Tania leaves us impressed at CES 2012

The ZTE Tania is an interesting Windows Phone. It only features 4GB of storage (the lowest of any with only 2.9GB available), a 5MP camera and yet has a really decent 4.3" screen. To top it off, we really like the design of it, especially with the chrome accent. Of all the entry-level Windows Phones we played with today, the ZTE Tania kind of surprised us.

Even the back had a nice, designer look to it, which makes us wish ZTE would just step up the specs here for the States and Europe. Throw in 16GB storage, an 8MP camera with a front-facing counterpart and ZTE could be making some waves here. Make it 32GB, AMOLED and 4G and we're talking head turner. Let us just say, we're interested in this phone and company.

Acer Allegro shows up at CES 2012

Look at that, the Acer Allegro, an admittedly low-spec'd device is here at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. Microsoft is showing off the phone with numerous laptops on the show floor.

While the 1GHz device with a 3.6" screen doesn't inspire "oohs and aahs" it ain't half bad either for developing markets. With a 5MP camera and 8GB of storage, it should satisfy a lot of new users to the smartphone world. Either way, it was finally nice to see one in person.

Pandora once again alters their APIs, breaks unauthorized 3rd party Windows Phone apps

Do you use MetroRadio and/or RadioControlled for your Pandora interaction on Windows Phone? Then you may (or may not) have noticed that those apps have stopped working...again.

Reason? Simple, really. These apps use undocumented APIs to access the Pandora service. Pandora, for whatever reason, changes them on occasion breaking app functionality. Are they doing it on purpose to disrupt these apps? Who knows, maybe or maybe not. What we do know is that it means you'll have to wait till both developers update their apps to fix it and from what we've heard, both devs are hard at work on fixing it.

Until then, MetroRadio is "hidden" from the Marketplace and RadioControlled has submitted their fix (and "future proofed" it against this type of situation occurs again). Stay tuned though, we'll give you a tour of the new working Radio Controlled soon enough.

Nokia Lumia 710 makes a cameo in T-Mobile's latest ad

Carly and the gang over at T-Mobile are running a new ad focusing on T-Mobile TV and the wireless carriers 4G network. You will also be introduced to America's first Nokia 4G phone, the Lumia 710.

The T-Mobile TV app comes pre-loaded on the Nokia Lumia 710 (and probably every other smartphone T-Mobile carries) and will be available tomorrow at T-Mobile.com, authorized retail stores and Target, Costco, and Wal-Mart stores nationwide. With contractual discounts, you're looking at just under fifty bucks for Nokia's first U.S. Windows Phone.